Charlie has been invited on a birding familiarization trip to Guyana in March, led by Tim Appleton, co-founder and –coordinator of the British Birdwatching Fair, sponsored by the Guyana Sustainable Tourism Initiative, a joint program of the USAID-Guyana Trade Investment Support program and the Guyana Tourism Authority.. Guyana has over 815 species of birds, & new species are being added regularly. There are many Guiana Shield endemics & highlight species such as the Harpy Eagle, Guianan-Cock-of-the-Rock & Sun Parakeet. Parrots flying overhead are a common sight throughout the country, and on our trip, it is entirely realistic to see at least twenty of the twenty-eight species found in Guyana, including endangered Scarlet and Yellow-and-Blue Macaw.

Look at the Resource section of the Smithsonian Institute's 'Biodiversity of the Guiana Shield’ project, which provides the checklist of the birds of Guyana as well as lists of mammals and plants, and other interesting information about Guyana's biodiversity. You can also watch portions of streaming shows featuring Guyana birds, as filmed by James Currie of BirdingAdventures.com, who is a big fan of Guyana.
Guyana is also rich in wildlife and visitors have a good chance of seeing endangered wildlife species such as Giant Anteater, Giant River Otter, Black Caiman and Red-backed Bearded Saki. Although more difficult to see, Guyana is also home to healthy populations of Giant Armadillo, Jaguar, Puma and other jungle cats. The richness of wildlife exists because Guyana has retained 80% of its original Amazon rainforest, a fact that has been getting a lot of attention for doing so in recent months.

You can learn more about Guyana’s efforts to preserve its rainforest by watching “Lost Land of the Jaguar”. Produced in 2008, this three-part BBC brought an international team of scientists to Guyana to document its wealth of natural scenery and wildlife and was one of their popular programs ever. You can view on GoogleVideo:
Episode 1Episode 2Episode 3

Guyana is also home to Kaieteur National Park. We will visit Kaieteur Falls, a magnificent, high-volume waterfall and one of the world’s highest at 741 feet. Guyana donated the Iwokrama Internacional Centre to the world in 1992, and we will be visiting this one-of-a-kind centre created to support Guyana’s efforts to save the rainforest. Another highlight is a visit to Karanabmu Ranch, the home of Diane McTurk, who is internationally famous for her work in rehabilitating orphaned, Giant River Otters to the wild.